GTA: Hot Coffee controversy was ‘draining and upsetting’, says Houser

Grand Theft Auto 5 chatter is also throwing up some tasty insight into the series’ past, and Rockstar vice president Dan Houser has shed light on the studio’s reaction to the infamous ‘Hot Coffee’ sex mini-game scandal that broke out around GTA: San Andreas. It was an upsetting time, Houser suggests.

Speaking with The Guardian, Houser discussed the studio’s reaction to the fallout from the Hot Coffee content. It was left out of the core game but left in the source code and was subsequently discovered then flagged up by hackers, sparking a media outcry that led to staff members being interrogated by the Federal Trade Commission.

Houser recalled, “It was draining and upsetting, a tough time in the company,” and added, “The massive social decay that we were supposed to induce hasn’t happened. So in that regard, a lot of those debates that used to go on, they’re not such a big deal now.

“We never felt that we were being attacked for the content, we were being attacked for the medium, which felt a little unfair. If all of this stuff had been put into a book or a movie, people wouldn’t have blinked an eye. And there are far bigger issues to worry about in society than this.”

What’s your take on the Hot Coffee blow-out? Was it too much, or should Rockstar have been more careful? Let us know below.